Ali Lipman always loved the arts. “It's like, everything I wanted to do with my life. I really thought that I would have a career in the arts or in the administration. It's been more like a volunteer career,” she joked.
That passion led her to co-create MOON, Music Organizers of the North Shore, a booking collective which specifically aims to provide accessible music to North Shore residents. Alongside fellow musicians and “kindred spirits” Tyler Bernard and Mat Petrone, MOON worked to put out several bills a quarter, coordinating between artists and venues.
“We wanted to create some kind of community that was accessible on the North Shore and had a benefit,” Lipman explained.
Lipman also wanted to assist student artists, not just in the North Shore area but Boston as well. “I ask Berklee students, ‘Where do you get to play?’ Their opportunities are really restricted to campus because there's just nothing in Boston that accommodates live music for an all ages audience. It’s such a shame,” she said.
MOON began as a collaboration between two preexisting booking companies: Oh Nice, Shows, and Cheap Beer Booking, who put on a festival called Moon Over Salem. In 2025, The festival bill featured over 50 bands on it.
MOON also started its own scholarship program for prospective music and art students that were studying in the greater Salem area. Each school year, two students from the North Shore area each receive the MOON Rising Artist Scholarship, which is made up of money raised at MOON’s annual music festival.
After establishing the collective, the minds behind MOON had an idea; North Shore had an apparent lack of all ages sober venues. They had been hosting many of their shows at ChagallPac, a performing arts center in Salem on Artists Row, and the owner of the center encouraged MOON to apply for a city-funded residency there.
The city provided them with a property that Lipman explained as “A kind of a partnership between the city and the MOON.” Just like that, Moon Base One became the newest addition to the program.
Photos from Moon Base One. Photos by Brittany Rose Queen.
Until it wasn’t. A little over a year after MOON signed a two-year residency, the City of Salem ordered them to close the very venue they helped establish. They declared the space unsafe for gatherings of more than 15 people.
“Dealing with the city is that so often the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. And sometimes it's deliberate. Sometimes it's like, ‘We don't want to know. Like don't get involved because then we’ll be liable.’ Artists kind of need these gray areas with a little bit less oversight to really thrive,” Lipman explained. “The City of Salem Arts and Culture Department has a tightrope that they need to walk.”
Lipman clarified that she doesn’t place blame on the individuals involved with the City of Salem. “They did what they needed to in order to make the building fit for purpose. There was no real deliberate misleading,” she explained. “When we took the space, they had an understanding of how we were going to use the space because of the agreement. We calculated occupancy based on square footage, I think it was around 6.24 feet per person. But occupancy and code is a lot more complicated than that, and I find that requires a lot of interpretation.”
Lipman further explained, “It’s really not the building department's job to interpret the code. It's really an architect's job to interpret the code. So the building kind of they're up to code as of 30 years ago, essentially is how I understand it. Because this isn't a commercial lease, we would not be responsible for the maintenance on the building and to have the sections done. We operated with the assumption that the building was fit for our proposal.”
This all begs the question… What caused this whole conundrum in the first place?
It all was sparked by a familiar enemy for many small music venues– neighbors.
“This snowballed because of a series of complaints from neighbors in the apartment building next to us,” Lipman explained. “There are several apartments above the bar that neighbors our unit. That business, nor do our other neighbors complain about the noise. We have treated for sound as best we can, test ambient noise, and respect the city's noise ordinance, but sometimes a small minority can be the loudest in the ear of city officials.”
“I think there's a little bit of genre discrimination there,” Lipman added.
In order to answer to the complaints, Lipman and the other members of MOON went in front of the licensing board to be a propuncle for a license for a one-year entertainment label. “That set into motion some questions about the building, and about occupancy and licensing on Artist Row, not just for our building but for other buildings as well that are multi-use spaces that hold classes, that have retail,” she said.
And so, the architects put together a certificate of occupancy. The building inspectors disagreed with said certificate. No more Moon Base One. Just like that, as MOON said in their official Instagram post regarding the closure, “The goalpost was moved.”
“This will drag out,” Lipman said. “It’s kind of like, the license was the public process and now there's this building and interpretation of code that has to happen, and that's not a public process. So we're collaborating with the city to try and figure out what that means for the future.”
“The city has graciously allowed us to do some of our performances at the Old Town Hall, which is great. It’s an okay solution, a temporary solution,” Lipman said.
“I've been really optimistic that they will increase our capacity, and we’ll be able to operate in some way, shape, or form before our license agreement is up at the end of the year,” she added.
Lipman said that the support from the North Shore community has blown her away.
“At the Licensing Committee Meeting, we did invite some respected business owners in the community to come and speak on our behalf. It was really beautiful. It was a long meeting to sit through and I felt extremely fortunate that when it was time to call in goodwill from community members, that they were ready to be there and have a seat for us,” she said.
Photos from Moon Base One. Photos by Alex Ilyadis.
Lipman recalled, “We asked for petition signatures ahead of that meeting to demonstrate the community support that's behind MOON, and we received 1,000 signatures in less than 48 hours.”
The comments on the petition struck Lipman. One commenter talked about how they went to Moon Base One with their daughter, and despite struggling with the pride flags in the venue at first, they came to a realization that the space was invaluable to young music fans in the North Shore area. “We think about the current state of the world, and how divided we are, how exclusive to our homes we are, and the solution for that is really coming together,” Lipman added. “To me, that's beautiful and like starting a conversation, you know. It helps to foster tolerance and community.”
As of now, Moon Base One is focused on rebooking their already existing shows to new venues. “Big shout out to the local community support," Lipman exclaimed. "Just all the businesses in Salem that took a few shows for us, like Bit Bar and Koto and Gulu Gulu Cafe, and all the others that offer and are willing to entertain the conversation with us.”
Sometimes, shows that once would have been sober and all ages at Moon Base One aren’t able to maintain that distinction at rebooked venues. “Sometimes the answer now is no, and that bums me out a lot. I can tell that promoters and artists that booked with us were sort of looking forward to that vibe,” Lipman explained.
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Despite the struggles, Lipman and the other members of MOON will keep fighting for Moon Base One; something that started out as an ambitious dream, became a reality, and was promptly shut down prematurely. “So many moments to connect with other creative people in the community wouldn't have happened to me if we didn’t have MOON. So I'm really grateful for the ride it’s been along the way,” Lipman said.